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Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

Millions are rejecting the culture-war hotspots of the major social media sites in favour of apps dedicated to activities they enjoy, while bonding with their fellow users

Singletons looking to shack up with their soulmates online have relied on two key routes in the past decade or so: take your chance on dating apps, or befriend as many mutuals as possible on social media, in the hope that you find the one. Paradoxically, as major platforms push more algorithmically curated feeds, users may be less exposed to content they want to see Jess Maddox, University of Alabama “We really work hard on the tone and voice of everything we do, from community policy through to editorial through to our social, to guide folks in terms of how we want them to be around Letterboxd,” says Gemma Gracewood, the app’s editor-in-chief. That’s not just because the people are kinder: Letterboxd has a set of moderators who are tasked with taking a “zero tolerance” approach to overt or coded hate speech, racism, homophobia, white supremacy, transphobia or any other marginalising attitudes.

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